Daniel and Revelation Seminaries

In preparation for our dear Br. Henry Bering’s visit on January 11th for 4 seminars in Christchurch, the brothers and sisters distributed 6000 leaflets in 2 days. Our Br. Anton made many personal contacts with Bible correspondence students to invite them to attend the evening meetings. A hall was found, equipment hired and preparations were made to the hall.

Br. Henry arrived in the afternoon, 3 hours later we were enjoying our first lecture in the series. People came and enjoyed the 4 evening seminars. We had useful talks with interested souls over refreshments afterwards.

The last meeting finished on Sunday evening. Then Br. Henry left Monday morning to go 430 kms to Dunedin to hold 3 more meetings. We all eagerly awaited news of how the lectures were received.

Mike Brewer

DUNEDIN EVANGELISM

On January 15th to the 17th, we were blessed by a series of three evening meetings in Dunedin, New Zealand, presented by Pastor Henry Bering, and assisted by Pastor Anton Salaviov, Pastor Vladimir Maranov, and brother Ernie Gale, who traveled from Christchurch to be with us. We enjoyed their fellowship, and were much encouraged by their presence.

Pastor Henry Bering spoke on the subject of Baniel and the Revelation, and these meetings were well received by the Bunedin people, as many forks today are seeking to know more about this wonderful last-day message from God. There was a special emphasis on Jesus and His suffering for mankind, which I found to be deeply moving, and this was accompanied by a Gospel presentation. Br. Henry used many excellent colour slides to illustrate the talks, and they proved to be an effective way to reinforce the message.

Music was provided by brothers Gary Scoles and Sonny Tetomo on guitar, accompanied by Vladimir Maranov on the harmonica, which made a joyful sound. We would particularly like to thank Victor and Soraya Tarawa for providing accommodation for guests, and their children Mita and Tara who, together with their parents, gave much assistance in distributing leaflets. Sister Sheryl Pitman, who is a friend of the Reformers spent many hours distributing literature, and we are grateful for her support. Brother Robert Bowman was accepted into membership, and took part in a Lord’s Supper service.

As a result of this outreach, the Lord has blessed and encouraged us with a small group of enthusiastic people, who want to continue to study Baniel and Revelation, and by God’s Holy Spirit, to know more about our Wonderful Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, who has the answer to all of life’s problems. The Lord has made it possible for a small Church to be established in Bunedin, and a hall has been rented for this purpose.

I would like to express my gratitude to Pastor Anton Salaviov, Victor Tarawa and members of the Christchurch congregation for the way that God has used them to bring this wonderful truth to myself and other souls in this part of the Lord’s vineyard. James 5:19-20 ” Brethren, if anyone among you wanders from the truth, and someone turns him back, let him know that he who turns a sinner from the error of his way will save a soul from death and cover a multitude of sins.”

Robert Bowman

God has been very good to me. I returned home in January from a three-week missionary trip to Australia and New Zealand. It was a wonderful and challenging missionary outreach. During my stay I was involved in two youth retreats, a conference, and eleven evangelistic meetings in three cities. Seeds of truth were scattered.

In Australia, about 5000 evangelistic invitations were distributed in the city of Port MacQuarie. As a result of scattering seeds of truth in people’s hearts, several visitors attended the meetings. While the lectures were in progress the 35mm slide projector occasionally failed to operate.

A few times it overheated and stopped working altogether. It was no time then to panic, but to remain calm and ask God for help. During the projector blackout, we held a song service in order to give time to make necessary projector adjustments. Once the technical problems were solved, the lecture continued on. The Lord always comes to the rescue of His children. Br. Jerry Eaton and Sis. Jenny Nalder will now be following up all the interested souls who attended the evangelistic meetings.

After saying goodbye to all the dear believers “down under” it was time to move on to Christchurch, New Zealand. In this big and beautiful city four evangelistic meetings were held. Once again during the meetings projector problems arose. What was done to help the crippling situation? A few times, the loading of the slides had to be done on a manual basis rather than using the remote control unit. The devil was super angry and attempted to disrupt the presentation. All in all, visitors came and shared in the blessings from God.

After the conclusion of all the missionary activities in Christchurch, brethren Salaviov, Gale, Marinov, and I travelled by car to the southerly city of Dunedin. It was a long trip for us. Once again the devil tried to thwart our coming to this city. The car battery failed and had to be replaced. But this was not the end to our car problems. The majestic mountains had to be traversed with much resistance.

Something caused the radiator to overheat several times. This caused frequent stops to add water. Fortunately we carried along a sufficient amount of water to get us to our destination, the beautiful seaport of Dunedin. We were all tired, but thankful that our long journey had come to a safe end. Our dear Brother Salaviov drove us all to the home of Victor and Saraya Tarawa. Their home is situated near breathtakingly beautiful mountains. I baptized this couple about fourteen years ago near Christchurch, but now they are no longer members of the Church. It was a miracle how the Church
members found them in another city after many years. Please pray for Victor and Saraya that they will rededicate their lives to the Lord.

The four public meetings in Dunedin went well. It was well attended by visitors. Each interested person that came to the rented Church hall was invited to give his or her name and address. After each service, light refreshments were served. The golden moments of opportunity were used by both our members and visitors alike to mingle, visit, and get to know each other.

After a few days in Dunedin, it came time for brother Salaviov to accept Brother Bob Bowman into Church fellowship. It was a thrilling moment to witness another soul coming to the knowledge of the “Truth”. Both Victor and Saraya were much moved by this event. Saraya has recently been thinking seriously about returning to the church again. The world seems cold, unwelcoming, and unattractive to her. Some good news about Saraya’s missionary involvement is that she had invited her dear “sister” to attend the public meetings. She came and seemed to be touched by the Holy Spirit. Isn’t that wonderful? I cannot ignore the fact that Victor also came to the last meeting that dealt with the topic of Jesus Christ. Please pray for this special loving couple. They need our prayers. Before our departure from the mountains, a small hall was secured for Sabbath services and to continue with a Daniel and Revelation seminar on Tuesday. Brother Bob will be helping out with all the services. May the Lord grant him wisdom and much love to share present truth for these end times.
On our return journey, it was Brother Bob who drove all night to get us back to Christchurch.

Yes the old car that Brother Salaviov drove had a heart attack and wasn’t of further use to us. God again came to the rescue to help us in time of need. “Beloved, let us love one another: for love is of God; and every one that loveth is bom of God, and kneweth God.” 1 John 4:7

Henry Dering